Casino Pier's Wizards Cavern coaster demolished??

Some friends, People Who Find Out (tm), were down at New Jersey's Casino Pier this weekend for a special tour and noticed that the park's Wizards Cavern coaster had been taken down and possibly demolished recently. They aren't for certain that the coaster was torn down and gone forever, but it seems to be the most likely explanation for the state it was in. Anyone know for sure?

This was a very strange little coaster that definitely got around from Palisades Park to Fun Forest Amusement Park to Cedar Point to the Canadian National Exhibit. It has been at Casino since the late 80s and I had the privelege to ride it last year and will miss it if it is indeed gone for good.

-Danny *** Edited 12/22/2003 1:21:24 AM UTC by Koaster King***

This would indeed be quite a disappointing turn of events, Danny....quite a unique ride. Seems very unlikely that it would be dismatled to such an extent for a *mere* rehab...:(

Hopefully, the park has sold it to someone else, as it was not a "spectacular" ride, but still had a lot of history and seemed to be in decent condition despite its age...and the lift hill design basically left the ride free of mechanical parts that could fail....

bill, trying to remain hopeful despite the obvious odds

I agree Bill that the history and unique aspects of the coaster are worth saving. It's hard to imagine Casino would want anything else in that place or that they would have an idea of something better to replace it with that would mean as much. I wonder if a Zamperla Volare could fit in that spot, but it's probably way too early to be playing to guessing game.

-Danny

It could be a rather entensive rehab of the ride.

Go here and click on the "recent updates" link on the left side of the page, scrolling down to the bottom until you see the link to "Winter 2003" pictures. Check out the pics of Morey's Dante's Inferno dark ride- it looks like a demolition of the ride, but its actually a rehab of the ride. This could be the case with Casino Pier's ride.

I hope that the ride is saved and rethemed with real theming. When I rode it this past summer, it was completely without theming inside, which was kind of boring. With just a little effort, it could be quite interesting, though...

I have a question for everyone. In the early 80's, I saw a ride that looked just like this at the Seattle Center. With RCDB listing Vancouver as a place of residence, could this ride have made a stop in Seattle? I've been trying to find out:

http://www.rcdb.com/installationdetail2288.htm

For a while, I thought perhaps it was Schwartzkoph's first coaster Düsenspirale" (Jet Spiral) (couldn't find a picture)

However, this looks more like what I remembered.

Also, if any of you have seen pictures of Jet Spiral, it might lead you to wonder as I do now, what type of relationship Mack and Schwartzkopf had. Did one simply copy the other? Did they work together?

I think I found the answer:

Ein anderer Typus sind die Einscheinenbahnen wie der Meteor von Mack von 1955. Im selbem Jahr baute Anton Schwarzkopf seine Düsenspirale - eine motorbetriebe Stahlachterbahn mit 30x14m Grundfläche. Es war eine der ersten Dunkelachterbahnen der Welt. Auch Mack zeigte sich wieder sehr engagiert und entwickelte die Dunkelachterbahn “Weltenbummler” mit Grusel- und Wilde-Maus-Effekten. Etwas später, 1959, brachte Mack noch eine ähnliche Attraktion auf den Markt, die sich “Broadway Trip” nannte und wie immer den patentierten Mack’schen Drehaufzug verwendete (vgl. Turmbahn).

Free Online Translation

Another types are the on certificate railroad as well as the meteor of Mack of 1955. In the same year, Anton (Schwartzkopf) black head constructed its Düsenspirale- a motor business Stahlachterbahn with 30x14m base. It was one of the first dark rollercoasters of the world. Also Mack appeared engages again very and developed the dark rollercoaster “Weltenbummler” with Grusel- and wild-mouse-effects. Somewhat later, 1959, brought Mack another similar Attraktion on the market, that named itself “Broadway Trip” and like always the patented Mack’schen trick procession related (cf. Tower train).

^I will comment on this tomorrow. Damn those Timezones. Good night.

I hope this ride has not been demolished,as it was the first coaster I ever rode... at the 1962 Seattle World Fair at the age of 6...Yeah I'm Old...

Mark

When I was there in June the ride was in pieces due to a rehab. I'm presuming it has been open since then. Would it need another ehab so soon? Would they demolish it after giving it a rehab?

Apparently the park has confirmed dismantling the ride for good! Its old age (44 years) and the lack of spare parts was given as a reason.

Considering the text that Jan Frederick posted, I´ll give you a rundown of its content with my added comments:

Mack have built a Monorail-coaster, called "Meteor" in 1955. In the same year Schwarzkopf constructed his very first coaster "Düsenspirale" (Jet Spiral). This was actually a dark ride and is considered to be one of the first indoor coasters ever.
The cars were equipped with a motor which carried the cars up a spiral incline which was located on the left side of the ride. This is basically the same idea Schwarzkopf used years later for his Jumbo Jet/Speedracer models.
"Düsenspirale" occupied a 30x14 m footprint (99x44 ft)and was painted with positive impressions of a happy future. Jet travel, the looming space age and the blessings of atomic power were depicted in a naive colorful style.
People loved the ride but it must have been slave work to travel with this massive and heavy ride. One of Schwarzkopfs brothers was constantly travelling with the original owner to assist with technical difficulties. But despite its success, the onwer decided to sell the ride to a permanent location, since his health suffered from the tedious work the "Düsenspirale" demanded.
The ride was sold to the Prater in Vienna were it remained for a few years before it was scrapped. As the legend goes, Anton Schwarzkopf who was by now becoming Mr Rollercoaster, was so embarrased by his early work, which he considered to be a complete failure, that he was more than happy when any traces of his debut work disappeared.

A picture of the ride can be found here:
http://schwarzkopf.coaster.net/ESduesenspiraleGF.htm

The similarities to the later Mack ride are clearly recognizable.

Mack produced another darkride with coaster elements called "Weltenbummler" (Globetrotter)which had more emphasis on a ghosttrain experience, but there were some dips and wild mouse curves to thrill the riders in the dark. This was another heavy construction with chunky wooden tracks, which resembled the monorail coaster. (The cars were centilevered in the middle of the track).

Due to the success of those rides, Mack decided to design a similar ride which should be easier to move using the Schwarzkopf ride as a source of inspiration. They used steel tracks incorporated a crane into the building structure and revived their "revolving tower lift" which they actually invented for their first side friction coaster in 1921!

"Broadway Trip" was all the rage when it opened with all its glitzy, mundane and urban facades. I have seen early design concepts which were even more ornate and elaborate. It was planned to have a huge skyscraper backdrop. There was even supposed to be a water fountain and a small pond in the middle of the ride. (maybe it was indeed there, anyone remember?)

But even with all those innovations, it was still hard work to travel with this ride, and thats why it was pretty soon sold to the US which was looking constantly for new rides since Disney revived the interest in amusement parks.

Its funny that both Schwarzkopf and Mack used their famous spiral lift on their very first coasters and returned to their ideas years later.

Too bad... I just read on RRC this morning that the structure has pretty much been demolished and not just removed.

With this, Ocean City's City Jet and Morey's RC-48 all likely to leave the Jersey shore this winter, its both saddening and exciting to see what happens at these parks.

Thanks TrickTrack! That's some interesting stuff. By the way, did you notice that some of the cars were facing backwards on the Schwartzkopf model?

So does anyone know if Broadway Trip ever made a srop in Seattle?

It saddens me to hear of this rides apparent demolision. I’m afraid I can't remember if there was any kind of a water feature on this. As I posted earlier I was six when I rode Broadway trip in '62 at the Seattle Worlds Fair.

I have three distinct memories of the ride, standing in front of it in utter terror when my older brother informed me I was riding it with him, having the KIMCHEE scared out of me when we went down the front drop, and the wave of relief when the ride was over.

Funny how most of your early memories involve strong emotions of one type or another...

Mark

Sorry Mark, I missed that. Thanks!

Thanks tricktrack. That explains a lot.

-Danny

When I was there in July it was open but the sign said something like W ZA DS C RN. The lift was really cool but that was basically the whole ride.